Character Counts

Hearts And Minds : Larry Durstin : Character Counts
It matters what Kerry did 35 years ago
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
E-mail Larry Durstin at: ldurstin@freetimes.com
http://www.freetimes.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2026
 THE NIGHT AFTER last week's first presidential debate I went to see the documentary Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry, which focuses on the Democratic nominee's service in Vietnam and subsequent role as an antiwar leader.
An anonymous 84-year-old man from rural Ohio had purchased 350 tickets and requested they be given away free to people who wanted to see the movie because, as his spokesman said, “he doesn't like where this country is heading,” and believes Kerry can put it back on the right course.
Before going into the theater, I spoke to Richard McCann, a former Swift Boat captain who served with Kerry in Vietnam and is now traveling the country as part of a group of pro-Kerry veterans known as the Doghunters. When I mentioned to McCann that the conventional wisdom was that people were tired of hearing about events surrounding a war that ended 30 years ago, he replied, “This film isn't about Vietnam, it's about the strength of John Kerry's character.”
McCann proved correct in his assessment, as the movie shows in a clear and startling fashion the courage Kerry exhibited in, first, volunteering for Vietnam — when as a rich kid graduating from Yale he could have easily avoided combat, like George W. Bush did — then serving there heroically and finally coming home to immerse himself in the cauldron that was the antiwar movement. The irony, of course, is that for most of the past two months these brave actions taken by Kerry have been the source of his detractors' efforts to discredit his character....